It is actually quite difficult to understand something that was written a long time ago and especially when the existing parts are only in fragments. But what I did notice is that this poem mentions worshipping of Greek gods and goddesses as well as love and suffering of mankind a lot. Since it was written around 600 BC, it is not unusual to Thus, a decent approach to read this poem is to know the gods and goddesses that are mentioned, such as Aphrodite, Zeus, Hera, Helena, and Nereids. Aphrodite is the goddess of love and fertility so the first part might be talking about love. In the middle, she asks for help from Nereids, sea nymphs in Greek mythology, to help her brother to arrive home safe, which means that her brother is sailing through the ocean. Such that knowing these gods and goddesses can help you understand what is going on at least a little. Another approach is to notice the words that are frequently used to get a general understanding like we did in class.
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I agree with you that one strategy of understanding this poem is to notice the names of gods and goddesses. The strategy you talked about is one of mine understanding Sappho’s fragments. Since it was written in the ancient world, people live in modern society maybe not able to imagine how gods and divine characters have effects on human evolution. The mention of Aphrodite, Hera, Helena makes me curious that why Sappho refers goddesses frequently instead of gods. Thus, it’s still hard to understand the full poem with many brackets. With that in mind, I went back to the introduction of Sappho’s background, which is my second strategy. Therefore, as I know Sappho is a lesbian, I conjecture that this poem expresses her love to women. After understanding Sappho’s belief in gods’ and goddesses’ power, I can better connect context with fragments.